Girls soccer is off to an exciting start
Lily Edwards/The Samohi
Last season, the Samo girls’ soccer team finished second in the Ocean League with a record of 8-2, while advancing to the first round of the CIF playoffs. During the first round of CIF, they faced a 1-2 loss against Notre Dame Academy, which concluded their season with an overall record of 11-10-1. The team coaches, Jason Daglis and Alyssa Pazzi, hope to build off of last season to strengthen their future performances, as well as the new five team captains that were named; LB Caldwell (’26), Audrey Howard (’26), Nyla Ryf (’26), Becky Scholze (’26) and Kayla Yee (’26)
Yee reflected on the team's past successes and faults.
“We would win a lot in league, but then in CIF we would perform really poorly,” Yee said. “I think that gave all the non-seniors motivation to do really good this year, so I think we are getting better this season.”
Ryf highlighted one of the team's priorities to continue their CIF streak this season.
“Last year we could have gotten farther into CIF but we had a lot of injuries,” Ryf said. “This year we are focusing specifically on injury prevention, and I think that it’s going to help a lot of us push through.”
This year has brought the addition of 11 new players to the program along with the loss of seven senior athletes from the varsity team. Despite this team shift, Coach Jason Daglis believes the new line up will benefit both the team and their viewers.
“We played a lot of defense last year and had very few scoring opportunities,” Daglis said. “I feel like we have the personnel this year to actually score a few more goals and actually play soccer that is fun to watch.”
The team played their first game against Marymount High School on Nov. 17, ending in a 0-1 loss. The players did not let this rough start faze them during their match against Brentwood High School the following day, winning with a score of 2-1. The team then tied with Venice High School on Dec. 2 with a score of 1-1. The new season has provided the team with the confidence and motivation to perform in their following games.
“A big key term for us this year is resiliency,” Daglis said. “So whether we are winning a game or even losing a game, it’s just being able to concentrate and stay locked in for the total 90 minutes.”
The Vikings’ game on Dec. 9 against Palos Verdes ended with a score of 0-3, and their upcoming game is on Dec. 18 against Winward.